2.8: Changes in Kindergarten Achievement

In the final segment of this group interview, one of the teachers reflects on the changes in kindergarten achievement since the first year she taught, when the first grade teachers gave her and her colleagues "an earful" about where students needed to be when they began first grade. They have since clarified their goals and "understand what we needed to do."

Mona	

	And I remember the first year that I taught.  The
	first grade teachers, oh my goodness!

Ts	

	(laughter)

Mona	

	Our kids were not where they were supposed to be. 
	And so we asked them, you know, what is that you need us to
	teach them?  Where do they need to be when they go into
	first grade?  Boy, we got an earful.  And so that also
	helped us to you know, figure out what our goals were.  And
	um, you know it never ends there.  You just keep plugging
	along and you know, when the kids went to first grade last
	year, we got a lot of compliments from the first grade
	teachers.  And they were saying, incredible!  You know your
	kids came to first grade in a totally different light, and
	they were really excited about where they were.  And so that
	I think that we seem to, first grade helped us to understand
	what we needed to do also.

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